poster image © 2005 Double Edge Films
Review #50 of 365
Film: 11:59 [NR] 102 minutes
WIP: $10.00
When 1st Seen: 1 March 2006
Where Viewed: Starz FilmCenter, Denver, CO
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Official Web Site: 11:59 The Movie
Review Dedicated to: Tyler R. of Denver, CO
DVD Release: 25 September 2007
Last night, I had the rare opportunity to see 11:59—a movie filmed entirely in Colorado by a local director using local talent—at the Starz FilmCenter in downtown Denver. In a lot of ways, this was a dream come true for me. Most of you know that I was born in the City and County of Denver and partially raised in suburbs of Denver. My allegiances despite my having lived in CA, WA, NM, MN, IL, OH, WI, IN, and RI for various parts of my life, will always be to my hometown. This is where is all began for me. So, to see a locally filmed and created movie at a down town Denver independent cinema ,the Starz FilmCenter--home to the Denver Film Society and University of Colorado at Denver’s College of Arts & Media was quite a thrill. On top of that, 11:59 is a pretty good movie. Written and directed by Jamin Winas, the film was an official selection for the Montreal World Film Festival 2005 and the Annapolis Film Festival 2005 as well as the Winner of the Audience Award at the 2005 Kansas International Film Festival 2005. 11:59 officially opened on 17 February in Denver and, hopefully, will be available around the nation soon.
From the outset, I’m going to admit to being a bit biased toward the film for reasons that should already be apparent. People tend to be partial to movies made in their home towns. Breaking it down, this was a lower budget film made by an independent film company called Double Edge Films. It lacks some of the polish of a bigger budget film. Some of the acting, some of the filming, etc. were not up to traditional Hollywood standards. And, yet, that somehow made parts of this film more believable and more real. Probably one of the most obvious areas where this lack of polish shows up is in the acting. The acting is sometimes a bit cartoonish, wooden, or caricature-like. Nonetheless, again, this made some of the people seem more real and some of them seem less real. The substance of the story focuses on photojournalist Aaron Doherty played by Englewood, CO actor Raymond Andrew Bailey and the gap of a missing 24 hours that has appeared in his life. He literally disappears and turns up in the middle of a wheat field with no recollection of how he got there or what happened to him. I thought Mr. Bailey gave a good performance in his role given that his iMDB rap sheet is about two lines of HTML long—a polite way of saying he doesn’t have much experience as a professional actor. The main issue is probably the over-the-top performance of super witch Liz Cunningham who plays the News Director for the television station for which Aaron works. She is so over-the-top at times as to bear some resemblance to a previous grand dame of the Denver super villainess scene, Joan Collins in her role as Alexis Carrington Colby on Esther and Richard Shapiro’s Dynasty. In any case, the story has some touching elements as Aaron flashes back onto his childhood and we learn a lot about what makes this guy tick. Also, there are some really good twists and turns in the plot as to always keep you guessing. I enjoyed the film, and I want to encourage and provide as much support as I can for the independent filmmakers who pour their lives and souls into trying to bring their little film dream to the big screen for all of us to enjoy. I admire Jamin Winas for his courage to assemble the financing to make this movie and that of all the people responsible for putting this film together. It is an interesting movie, with a plot that reminded me a little bit of one of my favorite shows of the 1990s, the CBS weekly drama, “Early Edition” starring Kyle Chandler. I wish all of the people at Double Edge Films good luck and hope they continue to make better and better movies! If 11:59 comes to your town, please see it and support the little guy.
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11:59 [DVD](2005)
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